The Potterkids
by DustyLeaves
Summary: The story of Jack, Merida, Hiccup and Rapunzel at Hogwarts from year 1 to year 7. Story has formerly been seen as an askblog on tumblr called 'the potter kids' which I ran. Rated M for violence and possible nsfw later on
1. Prologue

They didn't really know what year finally concluded them as weird.

Maybe it was in 4th year, when a dark cloud of oh-fuck shrouded the school tournament and damned everyone that entered the competition and their friends - whatever it was, it turned them into a dartboard with legs, despite they hadn't entered the damn cup: Definitely weird to be a target when you're not even_ in_ the tournament.

Or maybe it was in 2nd year, when something a bit more serious than 'just-an-animal-problem' was attempting to kill every single student – and they just happened to get face to face with this oversized horrendous not-so-normal killing machine: Definitely weird to get caught up with something you didn't even ask for.

It could have been 5th or 6th year, the years of what-the-actual-fuck, or maybe it was their 3rd year, the year to celebrate all joy in the world being sucked out of you, or the last year, the 7th, the year of: why?

But it was much more likely, that it was their 1st year, their very first year at the magical school, Hogwarts, for wizards and witches and witchcraft and other stuff that begins with a w.

Our main 'heroes' (if people being pushed into unfortunate events can be called heroes) were the four kids, Jack, Hiccup, Merida and Maria.

Jack, being the shortest of the four and their self-proclaimed leader until Merida changed his mind, was a student who liked being outdoors much more than sitting inside and doing actual work. Luckily for him, he and Hiccup had a deep bond of you-do-the-work-and-I'll-copy-it -later, a friendship truly only few could truly appreciate. It lasted for a month – not their friendship that is, but their bond - and Jack was forced to do his own work, with help from Hiccup. Hiccup was a clever, sarcastic, and surprisingly crafty kid, who made up for his lack of muscles with magical machines that did the work for him.

Merida was a feisty red-haired girl with an accent too heavy for many to understand – and sadly I cannot reproduce it. Few can – but her arm gestures and love for acting rather than speaking, made her understandable anyhow.

The last one, Maria, or Rapunzel as she is dubbed later, might be expected to be the sweet flower of the bunch to even out the personalities, but in fact she was just as feisty as the rest, just in her own way. She tried more unknown spells and potions than any wizard had dared, usually on herself, and being a creative, cooking and energetic person with a need to discover as much as possible, she would venture off to places others would consider restricted. She only needed a little push.

Now, Jack might have sounded lazy, but in fact he was a very dedicated boy. Thus he ended up in Slytherin, the house with the worst reputation, but admirable for it's pure consistency of purebloods and people with a thing for working only for their own benefit. With that in mind, it was a bit strange that Jack ended up in Slytherin, as he was to begin with, definitely not a pureblood. Actually, he was the complete opposite. But he did have the mindset to be in that house, and the sorting hat had easily ejaculated 'SLYTHERIN' when it touched Jacks brown hair. He was a bright kid, when he wanted to be, and a kind kid, most of the time, but with a mischievous hint to everything he did.

Hiccup had ended up in Hufflepuff. Now you might be wondering by now _"what drunk bastard named his son 'Hiccup'"_ Surprise: it's not his name. His name is actually Haddock, which is just as strange as Hiccup. His father and mother had a thing for Vikings and old names and decided to name him after a Viking, just as their own mothers and fathers had named them after the same tradition.

Hiccup was a nickname graciously given by Jack, because when Jack and Hiccup met for the first time on the train before they arrived at Hogwarts, Haddock had terrible Hiccups. The two of them played go-fish together, and Jack made up the rule that every time someone hiccupped, they'd loose a full set. No point in telling who won.

Hufflepuff was a perfect choice for Hiccup. They were famously known for their loyalty and surprising people with their talents, and they were also the only house with a trap in front of their door, for anyone who would try to sneak in and didn't know the password. Other houses simply just denied access.

Merida was probably the most easy to sort. The hat had barely touched her head before it exclaimed "GRYF-" quickly interrupted by the redheads loud YAAAAAH as she ran down to her house.

"…findor." The hat had finished its sentence rather offended.

It was a house for the stubborn, brave, courageous, head-on, (a bit naive) and willing to die people! Would it come as a surprise to anyone if I told you they had quite a bit of rivalry with the Slytherins?

And the last, Maria-later-known-as-Rapunzel, was sorted into Ravenclaw; a house for the dedicated, creative, curious and smart people. She was all of that and more with a heart bigger than her housemates combined. She had met Merida on the train, as Jack had met Hiccup, and there they had spent their time talking. They talked about the school, about their families, their likes and dislikes, hobbies and fascinations (mind you they were only eleven, and it is limited just how much an eleven year old can talk about). Merida quickly took a liking to Maria, as anyone who let the redhead talk their ear off about her dad, mom and archery, was a self-announced friend.

Therefore it wasn't strange to Jack, Hiccup, Merida or Maria, to hang out even after they were sorted into four different houses.

It was like having a safe spot in their new world. They knew nothing of Hogwarts, but they knew of each other, if only a little. Jack and Hiccup met together every morning to go to class when they could, and the same did Merida and Maria.

Now as to how the four finally met each other, it was only a matter of time, temper and a game of dodge ball.

Merida had given herself a mission: to teach every possible sport to Maria as quickly as possible. So she started with the easy ones: ball games. It had only taken Merida exactly one minute and thirty-four seconds to spot Jack; the smallest kid on the field walking together with a slightly taller and lanky kid with fluffy hair. Both carried books and both seemed distracted by the freedom of recess.

The ball left the redheads hand with an extraordinary precision for an eleven year old, but it wasn't a skill appreciated by the target. Jack fell to the ground with a THUD, and after a grumble and time to spit out the grass from his mouth, he stormed over to the Scottish girl to give her his personal thanks: a punch in the face.

It was a spectacular view for anyone who watched and a nice break from the daily life of lessons and homework.

The pranks and fights quickly became a habit for the two kids, and it didn't matter how many times a professor came to separate them, they always flung right back at each other to leave the last kick or have the last word.

The habit grew on them and eventually it turned enjoyable and became the key point of the day. Hiccup and Maria braced themselves every time for the upcoming pranks and the following fist fights (but c'mon they were eleven; not much of a fist fight), and the two found joy in talking to each other whenever their friends were busy leaving victory marks on the other.

At first, the warfare was regularly, like taking a pill every morning. Gradually it toned down, and by the end of November they managed to have a battle over wizard's chess instead of fists. It was an improvement no doubt, and very much encouraged by their friends Maria and Hiccup.

It was the beginning of December when their adventures together truly began, the adventures that could more or less be described as; weird.


	2. 1st Chapter: The First Snow

**Chapter 1. The first snow **

It was Monday and Maria was up unusually early. She was always the first to get up, but this day, her inner clock had definitely screwed up as she got up at four in the morning.

Quickly she rushed out of bed, her little feet skipped across the wooden floor and past the blue beds with her sleeping housemates. She kept her nightgown on as she rushed down the stairs to Ravenclaw's common room with a brush in one hand. One thing was for sure about Maria; she wasn't a vain girl, but she had a love for brushing her hair as she enjoyed the silky-ness of it when it draped over her shoulders.

Carefully, silently and as quiet as possible, she sneaked out of the common room. Any other day, this sort of sneaking about would have been horrendous, but not today. Today was a special day for many of the young kids, especially the 1st year students. It was December the 1st after all, and one had to enjoy that special day with their child spirit intact, before it grew up and dismissed the day as any other Monday.

Maria was bare feet as she rushed down the million stone steps on the moving stairs, immediately regretting not wearing socks, as the stone steps were much colder than the wooden steps in her room. The paintings next to her had barely woken up, and few spoke to the girl and tried to ask what she was doing, but she ssh'ed them and smiled "it's the 1st of December!" and even the general on his white horse and lance held high couldn't help but smile back.

The brown haired girl reached the end of the stairs and ran through a long slender hall. Her tiny steps echoed ever the slightest, enough for two of her friends to hear her coming. Jack and Hiccup was standing ready and waved eagerly at her "I didn't know you were that punctual, Jack" Maria chuckled in a hushed voice to which the short boy grinned and the owl on his shoulder pushed its chest forth. He looked far too young to have such a mischievous grin on his face. "It wasn't me, it was Hiccups cat that somehow sneaked into my room and sat on my face to wake me up!"

"And it worked" Hiccup added with triumph. Jack was about to say something until Maria interrupted and stared at Hiccups feet "Why are you only wearing your right sock?"

"Oh-" the boy stared at his feet as if to check what Maria had meant "All my left ones are gone-"

Not a second later, they heard not so quiet steps from a certain redhead, as Merida ran over to them from another hallway. "YO!" she exclaimed, and quickly she was hushed by three joined hisses "SSHHHH".

. . .

Jack had tendency to sneak into places he shouldn't, search out unnecessary dangers and always, _always_ go to the restricted areas if possible. He hadn't been out in the forest yet, but he planned to.

For this special day, 4:30 on the 1st of December, he had showed his friends a secret way to one of the highest towers. It wasn't a restricted area, but it was definitely not a place any 1st year student would normally go.

The window was big enough for all four of them to sit in, dangling their feet over the edge that went straight down to the courtyard. They should have been scared of falling down, but they weren't. They were too focused on watching the first snow fall from the white, slightly dark, sky.

White tufts that looked mostly like soft feathers, fell so slowly and quietly that no student at Hogwarts had woken up to see the beautiful sight yet, except for the four friends. The only sound present was the content purr from Hiccups black cat in his lap. He had stroked it for so long now, that the motion had become rhythmic and constant like his breathing.

No one broke the silence until Merida had to go pee. It would have been a hilarious trip with Merida trying to jump, walk quietly and run at the same time to the girl's room, her three friends right behind her. It wasn't so hilarious though, because it was of utmost importance that they all stayed quiet and didn't get caught, and Merida was about to blow it.

They only got to watch the snow until 5, but it was plenty of time as both Jack and Maria had forgotten socks, and Hiccup and Merida were only wearing one sock on their right foot – which frankly still puzzled Maria greatly. Hiccup thought of it only as a prank, and Merida hoped it was, so she could have an excuse to beat someone up other than Jack.

The rest of Hogwarts would wake up at 6, so as soon as Merida walked out of the bathroom, the four friends rushed back to the moving stair cases. They had only managed to step up on one of them before Hiccup shushed his friends and pointed up. A teacher was awake.

Curse words that eleven year olds shouldn't even know about flew through Jacks' head (but technically he was the oldest of the bunch and turned twelve soon, so he was alright), and he pushed his friends up the stairs to hide away, but alas as he did, it started to move.

It was pure luck that it moved out of their teacher's sight, and for some reason the man was far too busy looking at his leg, rather than looking around. He gave a quick look, revealing his face enough for Maria to notice he was the DAtDA teacher and then he turned around, locked the door behind him, and limped away.

. . .

Jack, Merida and Hiccup hadn't seen the limping. "He did limp! Didn't you see how he kept looking at his leg to begin with?" Maria insisted as they walked up to Gryffindors house first.

"Frankly I was far too busy hiding" Hiccup noted before Merida added in her thick Scottish accent "yeah, plus – maybe he's already walking to the hospital wing, hm? It's taken care off, he's a grown-up!"

"Sure, but it looked like it hurt" Maria mumbled. They all said goodbye to Merida before going to Marias house. "Who did you say it was?" Jack asked out of curiosity.

"The Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. The guy all the older students call Maharaja because of his outfit"

"Oh him! I once put a frog in his hat!"

"Isn't it called a turban?"

"Worked perfectly as a bath for the frog either way"

Jack snickered and earned a smile from Rapunzel. The boys said goodbye to her, and then Hiccup went off to the kitchen and Jack to the basement. Sometimes Jack really envied the placing of Hiccups house. Living right next to the kitchen had to be like living a dream! A really yummy dream!

Jack rushed into bed as stealthy as he could, but he didn't sleep for the 30 minutes that were left before the rest of his housemates woke up. As soon as the rest of his house woke up, nearly all of them rushed to the windows to watch the snow. Jack had already seen the snow, so he didn't need to push and run through the mass to see it again – at least not now. Instead he went to his drawer to finally fetch some socks, only to find that all the left ones were gone.

It wasn't just him. When his house ventured off to the dinner hall, practically everybody were missing a left sock in their shoe, and walking without a sock in a shoe is highly uncomfortable, so everybody tried to walk in rather awkward ways to avoid the discomfort.

During breakfast, mumbling and chattering about the socks was had. Many were already looking under the tables to try and find out who the culprit was, but alas it was to no avail: everyone was missing a sock. It looked the most ridiculous on the girls who wore knee high socks, and suddenly had one bare leg.

The headmaster of the school, Manizon Moon, stood up from his seat to greet everybody good morning on this special day; 1st of December. His face was the kindest one on earth, his voice low and soothing, and it was impossible not to like him. He talked about Christmas, traditions, the spirit of Hogwarts and the joy of winter. He didn't mention the socks, but he did smile and finished his speech with: "I do hope everyone, especially the 1st year students, will have their chance of enjoying the snow here at Hogwarts. I know that some has already had the privilege of sharing the beauty of this season together –" he nodded to the four friends, seemingly all at once. They didn't know how he did it, he just did. No one else had seen the nod, but they had. "- and with that, I wish you all may do the same." Most of the room thought he refereed to everybody who had seen the snow, but the four knew that _he _knew that they had snuck out of bed to see the snow as the very first.

He was probably the only adult they were okay with finding out their shenanigans.

After breakfast, they headed straight for class. It seemed as dull as ever. Merida was staring out of the window practically falling asleep and counting snowflakes and only 10 minutes had passed. She blamed getting up too early, but really this happened every single class. She was rocking on the back legs of her chair when her professor slammed the ruler down on her table, successfully knocking Merida out of balance and down on the ground she went. It continued like so for the next 2 lessons until it was lunch.

The redhead complained all the way to the dinner hall about the lessons, until her bladder (and something extra) demanded attention. "'scuse me, I need to empty my back" she patted Marias shoulder "Merida, that's gross!" her friend complained but she still followed her, having her own business to take care off. "Ye? But you're still following me!" Merida laughed.

"Not because of you!"

. . .

Hiccup poked his food with as little care in the world as possible. Never had eggs looked more boring. Never had a white flat substance with a yellow middle seemed more hopeless and completely unnecessary.

He didn't know why though. He wasn't sad, nor was he angry. He had a great morning, so why the sudden sighing and feeling of boredom?

It was because hiccup was a kid and so was Jack, Merida and Maria. Like the rest of 1st, 2nd and really just the rest of the school, no one could focus. Everybody wanted to go outside and play in the snow, or sit inside and drink hot cocoa, listen to live music by floating violins or self-reading books. Winter was not a time to study; it was a time to get cozy. And about noon, no one could focus anymore and they tensed up on their seats in the dinner hall, waiting for classes to be over so they could go outside.

It would have continued to be a perfectly boring day, if it wasn't for the next thing that happened.

"TROLL!"

A man came into the dinning hall, panting, yelling and catching the attention of every single soul in the hall.

"THERE IS A TROLL. IT'S COMING UP-" the man wheezed "-FROM THE EAST WING" and fell down on his knees before he went unconscious. Jack couldn't remember who the man was if his life depended on it, but all of that didn't matter right now because his mind was spinning with something far more alarming: THERE WAS A TROLL ON THE SCHOOL?

Needless to say, there was a lot of screaming. Trolls were not little cute things that took care of your garden Sunday morning; Trolls were big ugly dumbass things that couldn't poke a shit with a stick without ruining both.

One voice raised above the chaos though. "Silence!" Headmaster Moon was standing up again. Everybody silenced. It only took him a few seconds to instruct the students to go to their houses as quiet and calm as possible.  
Jack jumped up on a table and quickly looked around. He spotted Hiccups fluffy hair, but there was no wavy brown Maria hair or curly redhaired Merida hair in sight. He jumped off the table, pushed through his classmates and crawled under the next table to get to Hufflepuff's seats. Putting a hand on Hiccups shoulder he spun his friend around "Have you seen the girls?"

"No – I think they went to the bathroom. I heard them right before they left…" Hiccups voice got lower as he spoke, realizing just what he had said.

Almost in sync the boys nodded "to the east wing" and rushed off. In the haze of all the chaos, no one noticed two small 1st year boys heading the wrong way.

. . .

It's incredible just how fast one can run when you run for someone else, and two boys rushing to warn their friends from a possible troll attack, were faster than any professional marathon runner.

"You know Jack-" Hiccup huffed, trying hard to speak as he ran "-we could get in serious trouble for this!"

"Do you honestly care about that?" The shorter boy turned a corner, nearly sliding away as he did. Hiccup followed suit.

"Not really- just saying!"

Jack laughed back at Hiccup. Not because he was happy or found this in any way particularly funny. A troll attack wasn't anything to laugh at, but laughing had become Jacks answer to everything, and it proved to always raise his spirits no matter his mood.

Turning another corner, Jack really did loose his balance this time and slid off to the side, but only because he was distracted by two screams. Hiccup quickly pulled his friend up and they hurried to the girls bathrooms only ten feet away. Stopping a few meters from the door, they walked as stealthy as they could to peek in. What they saw was an eight feet troll hovering above the bathroom stalls. It was wide and bulky, it's hands bigger than it's face and feet, and the feet was nothing but flat stumps. It would have been an underestimation to say it looked stupid; eyes too far apart, ears long and dangly, the back of its head too small to contain a brain bigger than a fist and it's mouth open dripping with droll.

Maria and Merida were currently hiding underneath the sinks, both trying to be quiet. It seemed that the troll hadn't even noticed them and was currently busy looking over the stall it had crushed to smithereens. Hiccup got eye contact with Maria and urged the two girls to run out while the troll looked away by nodding his head back with clenched teeth.

The girls started moving, their legs and hands shaking and their eyes focused on the troll. They hid underneath the sinks as they moved, but as their feet touched a puddle of water, the troll turned around. It only took a second before it smashed its oversized hand down on the sinks and crushed them, and the girls screamed and jumped out of its way. Jack and Hiccup hadn't counted on getting involved in a troll fight, but that didn't matter now.

The short boy ran into the bathroom, avoiding the shards from the sinks the best that he could and shielded his head from the water that sprung out from the broken pipes. Luckily, trolls were stupid and slow. It served as an advantage for Jack as the boy slid underneath the trolls legs, jumped up on one of the toilets and from there; up on the trolls back. He crawled with the force of the jump up to the bastard's shoulders and swung his legs around his bulky neck (or as far around as they could reach).

"Jack, what are you doing!?" Hiccup shouted. He was currently trying to get closer to the walking tower without getting smashed himself. Pulling out his wand he pointed it directly at the creature, but he didn't even know what spell to cast!

"Acting!" Jack responded with half a grin and half a nervous twitch and knocked the troll on the head. The boy didn't really know what he was doing, but it worked as the troll become occupied with Jack. It tried to turn its head this way and that way, but Jack moved from side to side as it did and pulled its ears, hit its face and conked its nose and it was impossible for the troll to see him.

The troll finally got an idea, probably its first bright idea in years. It grabbed Jack by his coat, pulled him off and held him up in the air and made ready to throw a fist at him.

Very understandable, Jack screamed, "Guys! Help! Do something!" and Merida responded by throwing the broken pieces of porcelain at the troll. She managed to grab its attention enough for Maria to throw a spell on one of the larger pieces "Wingardium Leviosa!". Up flew half of a sink and forward walked the troll, ready to stomp on the kids that were merely ants in its eyes. "Drop it!" Shouted Hiccup, and by the push of a button, Maria dropped the sink right above the head of the troll. The monster let go of Jack, letting him fall a few feet from the air unto his friends, and down fell the troll with a crash that shook the entire east wing.

Wheezing, Jack sat up and rubbed his head. "You okay?" Maria asked and stumbled back on her feet "yeah- nothing broken" Jack laughed in response. "Good! Now get off!" the redhead shouted underneath Jack body, causing all four to laugh momentarily. They were cut off by the sound of four hurried steps coming into the bathroom and their looming shadows above the friends.

The professors had found them.

Specifically the Maharaja, the guy that yelled 'troll', Miss Katherine Joyce, and the headmaster, Headmaster Moon.

"What in heavens name happened here!?" Miss Joyce was the first to speak – or yell, but meant kindly. She was the most frantic off the bunch as she had always had a soft spot for the students, and now four of them seemed to be in quite a questionable shape for a 1st year student.

"Uh- we- uh…" Hiccup stammered and then quickly spat out "we knocked out the troll?" and pointed at it to prove his point.

The headmaster was the only one to smile at this, he snickered even, and it made Jack grin. But when Jack saw the faces of the other three, he quickly faked a sad frown.

"We're very sorry..." Maria took over "The boys saved me and Merida. We were washing our hands when then troll came"

"We just wanted to warn them!" Jack added.

Merida exclaimed, "but the troll when wacko! So Jack jumped on it- !" but was stopped by Jacks hand.

"And Maria knocked it out with a spell!" Hiccup wanted to even out the credit so the girls didn't look too bad.

The four kids nodded in sync and the professors looked between each other. "What you did was foolish and dangerous!" Miss Joyce looked to the kids again, frowning, as she will still shaken by the episode – more than the kids. "But you were also brave, and saved each other before we could. 10 points to each of your houses" the four smiled and were ready to jump up and down before Miss Joyce's finger pointed at them "And Never. Do it. Again! Now let's go, you need to get to the hospital wing" she gave a quick nod at the headmaster, who in returned answered "The professors and I will clean up this mess" and Miss Joyce rushed the kids out and down the hall to the hospital wing.

The four were rather satisfied with themselves, Merida and Jack grinned from one ear to the other and Hiccup chuckled. The later turned to Maria and expected to see the same smile on her face, but instead he found a puzzled look. She didn't exactly frown or look sad, but she was in deep thought. "What's wrong?", she snapped out of her thoughts by Hiccups question and blinked at him "oh it's just – " Maria spoke in a hushed tone and leaned in "that was a mountain troll."

"yeah?" Hiccup lifted a brow

"A mountain troll? On school? It's supposed to live up in the, you know, _mountains_"

"Oh- maybe something lured it down? Like food?"

"Highly unlikely"

Hiccup couldn't do anything but shrug. He wanted to answer her question to ease it off her mind, but he didn't know the answer. The boy turned to Jack and Merida again and smiled, but Marias question had infested in his mind and it bothered him all the way to the hospital wing.

None of them were significantly hurt; they only had few scrapes and cuts that were fixed with ointment and bandaids. Miss Joyce left them with a reprimand mixed with praise and asked them for the hundredth time if they were okay. The four nodded and smiled. It hadn't been as traumatizing as it maybe ought to have been.

They were allowed too spent the rest of the time before dinner in the hospital wing. Not many were in here and they were all asleep. The few patients had caught the flu and they were getting treated before going home for the holidays. The four had asked their parents if they were allowed to stay. They had so many things they wanted to discover and try, and they had a feeling that Hogwarts would be much more exciting when it was practically empty.

There was the rumor of Mor'due that Jack and Merida wanted to check out; a werewolf that supposedly haunted the forest. Maria wanted to talk to every single ghost on Hogwarts, as the few she had had the opportunity to chat with had told her interesting tales and stories of the school. They quite liked her, and another boy named Norman, and shared almost everything with them.

Hiccup wanted to work on several new inventions, and both him and Maria wanted to read the books in the forbidden part of the library. Merida wanted to do all of the things.

Hiccup was dangling his feet over the bed, and Maria, reminded of her last puzzle, thought out loud "I still wonder what happened to all the left socks."

"If it's a student, you'd think their hideout had to be pretty obvious with that amount of socks" Jack laughed.

At 6, the friends left to join their separate house tables in the dinner hall. Before they were allowed to dig in, Headmaster Moon stood up to speak, and immediately the four kids looked away.

"As you all may know by now, the troll has been taken care off. It wasn't by us, the staff, but four 1st year students who happened to be at the right place the right time." Even if Headmaster Moon didn't mention their names, somehow everybody knew it was the four and their surrounding housemates stared at them. News on Hogwarts spread quickly, and when a 1st year student from each house was missing during the troll attack that had been pointed out by other classmates to their prefects, everybody knew it was those four students Headmaster Moon was speaking of.

"You may be surprised to know what we found after the troll was knocked out: all the missing left socks. Apparently, trolls have a love for socks, specifically the left ones"  
A man, a few seats away from Headmaster Moon, at the long table by the end of the hall, whispered a 'yes!' to himself and nodded eagerly. It was a rather large man with a braided blonde beard, wearing a strange small hat, brown and green colored clothes and a west-coat made out of fur.

Headmaster Moon glanced once at him and the large man cleared his throat and quieted himself. Hiccup, for some reason, slid down underneath his table.

The rest of the speech wasn't heard by half of the students, as all started to wonder; when will I get my socks back? How did the troll even take them? Will we be able to tell our socks apart? And the other half was laughing to themselves by the very thought of a troll stealing all their left socks.

The rest of the dinner went as it normally would with chatter, munching, clattering and drinking.

The following weeks seemed downright plain compared to December 1st. No troll attacks, no cancelled classes and everybody got their socks back all en perfect condition. The only "fun" there had been had, were two things and the second being specifically fun for Jack.

Hogwarts had a tradition of placing the most beautiful Christmas tree into the dinner hall December the 1st for decorating. But because of a certain troll accident, that tradition had been delayed a day.

The four friends were out playing in the snow, when the same man that had said 'Yes!' during Headmaster Moons speech, came walking in through the courtyard, dragging a large tree behind him. How he managed to drag the tree all by himself was a mystery to anyone who watched.

The man spotted the four and smiled widely, revealing a rather interesting set of teeth and a fake one making itself very much noticed. It looked like it was made of wood. "Heeey! Haddock!" he shouted.

"Oh no" Hiccup immediately mumbled and let his head sink into his scarf. Turns out that the man's name was Gobber and he was a professor in the understandings of Magical Creatures and took care of a bunch of stuff on school besides that job. He was also Hiccup's dad's best friend.

Gobber had encouraged the kids to help him with the tree, but it was an impossible task. Jack told about Hiccups new nickname and Hiccup had glared at Jack but Gobber only laughed and starting calling Haddock for Hiccup.

Gobber also proved to be the best man to seek out when the kids were bored, and his tiny round house was only a small walk away from the school and a nice place to hang after dinner.

The second fun thing, jack's fun, was the discovery of another small student that Jack could tower above. (Tower as in; Jack was maybe half an inch taller, hair counting) His name was Aster, a 3rd year student, and Jack had pointed him out after several minutes of Merida pranking her short friend with his lack of height.

"See!" Jack had jumped over to Aster, keeping only enough distance to not get punched "He's older than me but still a pipsqueak! Height does not define your worth!"

Aster had turned around and stared at Jack. They were actually the same height, and the green eyes of the tanned boy stared directly into Jacks brown eyes. "But sure, I don't know much about your worth, we've only just met -" Jack grinned and offered a hand "- Name's Jack Frost, can I have your name or shall I call you mini me?"

That last comment was enough for Jack to earn a rival, a new guy to prank and be pranked by (but mostly ignored by), until Aster and over half of the students on school went home for the Christmas holidays.


	3. 2nd Chapter: Blissful Ignorance

**Chapter 2. Blissful Ignorance **

Marias singing voice was the loveliest. It compared to the lightest strings on a violin. She never sang too loud for it to be a bother, and never too low for it to be a buzz. It was perfect just the way it was and soothing for anyone who was lucky enough to be listening.

Jack and Hiccup were playing chess while Merida was watching, waiting for someone to get beaten so she could take their place. Neither Merida nor Jack were very patient kids, so to see them playing chess was definitely a surprising sight, even so, they did it rather often. Though when you looked at why they were playing, it made more sense: the winner won candy, money or other goods throughout the day. It was like that with all of their little games. The winners somehow had to get a benefit from winning, and the losers had to be aware of their failure for the rest of the day. Once, Merida was Jacks slave for a day, a day that Jack has never let her forget since.

"C'mon, someone loose already!" the redhead complained at Jacks and Hiccups painful concentration. The two were very good at playing, but Jack had a tendency to always loose patience in the end towards Hiccup, and loose gravely.

"Are you really that eager to loose to me, Merida?" Jack grinned at the girl "Last time you lost, you do know what happened-"

"We're betting candy this time!" Merida interrupted him and he laughed.

"Ha! Check-mate!" Hiccup said triumphantly as his magic chess piece knocked over one of Jacks pieces, breaking it in two. The loser groaned, gave up his candy and moved over for Merida to take his place.

"I should be playing this with Aster" the short boy mused "I bet I could make him loose focus in no time!"  
"Yeah, and get smacked with the chessboard in return" Hiccup chuckled as he and Merida watched the moving chess pieces walk back on the board and fix themselves.

"You have a habit of gaining friends by first being enemies with them, Jack" Maria stopped singing and looked up from her book, smiling widely. "You might just become close friends with Aster"

"That weird dude with his Aussie accent?" Jack spat "No way, what is he even doing in the UK?

"Hey, accents are cool!"

"Sure they are Merida, if you can understand what the person is saying" Jack grinned at the redhead and looked back at Maria. "Nah, I'm pretty sure we won't be buddies. He's way too full of himself, and his friends are strange as hell."

"The big guy and the little guy?" Maria asked.

"Yeah! North and – uh… 'Sandy', I think they're calling him; the little guy that is. He's mute. And then there is the girl, Ana! She's pretty cool. If you surprise her; feathers will pop out of her!"

"She's a metamorphmagus"

"…Bless you"

Maria laughed "A metamorphmagus! It's someone who is born with the ability to change how they look by their thoughts!"

"really?!" Jack exclaimed. Much of the magical world was new to him as, unlike the rest of his friends, he wasn't born surrounded by magic.

Though Maria still caught Hiccups and Merida's attention, as metamorphmagus were pretty new to them as well and they had yet to see Ana change her appearance.

"Yeah! There are animagus too, but they can only turn into a single animal and it's something you become, not something you're born with"

"Where do you know all this stuff?" Hiccup cocked a brow and got the response: "I read!"

"Hey, now that we're all sharing knowledge, I got something that might be interesting" Merida moved closer to the others and urged Hiccup to follow so they sat as close as possible. Leaning her head into the circle she spoke in a hushed voice, "remember the Maharajah on the 1st of December? Two days ago when we went home from Gobber late at night, I saw him at the end of the stairs again outside the same room."

Everybody leaned in closer. "I ran up to check it out when he was gone, but it was locked of course" she rolled her eyes "but when I leaned in to listen, I heard scratching and barking!"

"A dog?" Jack leaned back again "so the Maharajah is keeping a dog on school grounds behind closed doors?" he chuckled.

"It sounded bigger than a dog! I want to check it out, wanna' come with me?" Merida grinned "or are you scared?"  
"Never scared!" Jack protested and puffed out his chest.

Maria was nodding with a bright smile, thinking it was nothing but just a dog and she really wanted to pet it. Hiccup smiled, if a bit insecure "sure- but you say it was locked, we'll need a key to get in there and check it out"

Merida had obviously been waiting for someone to mention the key, as she proudly pulled up a backpack (the one she usually brought to put in her expected winnings of candy), and from the bottom of it, she pulled out a large rusty old key.

"Merida!" gasped three voices and before they could start asking questions, Merida made a frantic "Ssssh!"

Maria whispered "Merida did you steal that!?"

"Correction: Borrowed!"

Jack grinned "Cool!" and Hiccup shook his head "Not cool! That guy is weird as pumpkins! What if he finds out you took it!"

"Oh he probably will, but he won't suspect a 1st year student to have taken it! I'll place it somewhere random, and when he finds it, he'll think he dropped it"

Hiccup grunted and as he opened his mouth to speak, Maria cut in "Awesome! When will we go?" earning a look of 'really?' from Hiccup.

Despite Maria knew that 'borrowing' was wrong, her excitement and curiosity still got the best of her. Merida smiled at this "At night!"

Hiccup looked at his friends with a disbelieving look on his face and sighed, to which Jack laughed at him. This was pure peer pressure (plus a ton of curiosity, even from Hiccup)

. . .

"If I get thrown out of Hogwarts, a week before Christmas, I'm blaming you"

The four was currently walking on the cold moving steps of Hogwarts, wearing their pajamas and thickest socks to make as little sound as possible. So far, Hiccup was the only one making noise with his complaints.

"Sssh, Hiccup, we're almost there!" Merida waved a hand at him and kept walking. At the door, Merida pulled out the key from underneath her sweater. With a boost from Jack she reached the keyhole and with a loud CLANK, the old door was unlocked. A last "sshh" was shared between them before they opened the door.

Merida stepped in first followed by Jack then Maria and last came Hiccup.

There wasn't much space for Hiccup to walk in on though, and he bumped right into Maria "Ah, hey-" he hissed and looked at his three friends who all stood perfectly still.

Following their gaze he looked straight ahead, seeing nothing but a big black mass. It was slightly shiny, looked soft and very fur-like. In fact, it was fur. Fur on what? Hiccup looked down, noticing a dog head, a rather big dog head, bigger than any of the kids. No actually, there was two dog heads. Correction. Three dog heads.

But there weren't twelve paws, only four.

"Is that … a giant three headed dog?" Hiccup stuttered out and Jack nodded.

"Let's get out of here," Maria offered and as soon as the words left her, the six eyes on the dog(s) blinked open.

It stood up and snarled and made an attempt to step forward, but the large chains around its necks kept it back. It was quickly angered by this and barked and growled at the kids who in return screamed. "Open the door Maria! OPEN IT!" Jack pushed the poor girl whose hands were shaking and fumbling with the door handle. Merida took over and flung the door open, all four kids ran out and nearly fell down on the stone steps. The dog pushed its head against the door, barking deafeningly, loud enough to wake up the entire castle. Jack tried with all his might to force the door close, his three friends speedily at his side to join him. In what seemed like an endless fight, that really only lasted ten seconds, the kids managed to shut and lock the door with the help of adrenalin and panic.

"THE FUDGE WAS THAT!?" Hiccup shouted and took in a deep breath, one after the other. "Let's move!" Jack pushed his friends ahead once more. There was no use in shushing anybody now, but it was reckless to stand on the stairs and scream and cause yet more attention than the barking by the beast most likely had.

They sprinted as fast as they could down the stairs, through the hallways, into the courtyard and headed straight for the forest. By now, Gobber's house had already become their sacred place. They hadn't attempted to go to any of the common rooms for months as many of their housemates took great pride in not letting any other students but their own into the common rooms. Besides, right now, they didn't want to stay at the school: They were pretty sure at least one professor had heard the dog.

Knocking harshly on Gobber's door the kids called out his name. There was a bit of scrambling and moving about on the other side until Gobber ripped the door open "Who is it-?" he called out. He saw nothing straight ahead of him, alas he sighed and looked down "You know kids. It's way past your bedtime. Go back to your rooms before you get in trouble" Gobber waved them away and closed the door, but the four didn't care and exclaimed all together: "You can't let us go back!" "We saw a three headed dog!" "We could have been killed!" "We ARE going to get killed by the professors!"

That caught Gobbers attention "…You saw Fluffy?" he cocked a brow and the kids looked even more confused. "Uhm- c'mon in. I'll make some hot cocoa"

Before the words had left his lips, all four scrambled inside and sat down on their usual seats in the corner, right next to the fireplace.

There was silence as the kids tried to calm down and Gobber fumbled around his things to find the box with cocoa powder. The silence was broken when Maria finally asked, "Who's Fluffy?"

"Hm? Oh it's the dog you saw!" Gobber answered merrily.

"Why would anyone call such a beast 'Fluffy'?" Jack exclaimed.

"Ah, but he's quite sweet when you know how to tame him! Like: If you play a quiet piece of music, he falls right asleep. Mozart is his favorite"  
"Aha…"

Gobber started whistling as he prepared the cocoa. His tiny house really had everything: Cocoa, good food, a fireplace and a cozy corner. Besides all the cozy things, there were also all the stuff that made the place so very 'Gobber': weapons of all kinds, cages, whips, ropes, swords, sables, cutlasses and a workplace where the man could make his own weapons. Jack suspected that at least half of them were of his own creation.

"Gobber" Hiccup caught the attention of his father's friend as he poured the cocoa to each of the kids. "Why is there a three-headed dog named Fluffy on the school? It's quite a pet to have" Hiccup held protectively around his cup and let the heat from it warm him up.

"Ah, I'm afraid that's a secret Hiccup" Gobber answered sadly. He loved sharing stories with the kids, especially the secret ones. He was, in fact, a terrible secret keeper because of this.

"A secret to do with the Maharajah?" Merida inquired.

"The Maharaja? Oh Professor Akanksha? The funny guy with the weird hat? What would he have to do with any of it?"

"He has sneaked up to Fluffy several times!"

"Yeah, and once he came out limping" Maria added.

"What?" Gobber frowned. "Well if he's the new caretaker of fluffy, then I haven't heard any of it. Fluffy is my job! You see, I brought him to Hogwarts just when he was a little pup" the man chuckled at the memory. "Traded a beer to get him on a pub"

The four immediately exchanged looks between each other, looks that Gobber translated into danger "Oh no, don't start getting involved with this! If the Maharajah is snooping around like that around Fluffy's treasure, then it's non of your business!"

"Treasure?!" the four exclaimed.

Gobber let a hand run over his face. These kids were giving him a headache already, but their curiosity reminded him of when he was young and he gave a frustrated chuckle. "Stop. Meddling." He warned them "And drink your cocoa while it's hot"

The kids were quiet for now and sipped their cocoa, well aware that Gobber wouldn't reveal anything unless he was in an exceptionally good mood (or drunk).

From the fireplace, the stove that hung above the fire started to tick. Gobber got up from his seat in such haste the kids hadn't seen anything like it. He wore a bright smile as he put on his surprisingly pink mittens and picked up something from the stove. It was an egg, a really oversized one with strange colors and patterns. Gobber smiled at the kids and took out a pillow, put it on the table and placed the egg on it "This is our little secret, alright?" he reminded the kids as they stared mystified at the egg.

"Gobber! How did you get that?" Hiccup suddenly exclaimed, gaining the attention from his friends.

"Your dad gave it to me! It's one of the smaller ones, so it won't be seen by anyone or do any harm" Gobber reassured, his voice and gestures reduced to that of a kid trying to convince their parents that they knew exactly what they were doing.

"What is it?" Jack asked right after, his curiosity killing him.

"A dragon!" Hiccup looked at his friend with worry, as Hiccup had always been taught that dragons were dangerous and should be kept away! The joy that sparkled in Jacks eyes was almost infinite though. The dog was completely erased from the short boys mind and his eyes were glued to the egg. "A dragon!" he repeated to himself in a whisper.

Merida followed suit and both her and Jack leaned in close to watch it. The ticking continued. Maria didn't know whether or not to be in awe or horrified "Is it… hatching?"

"Yes!" Smiled Gobber, his eyes even brighter than Merida and Jack's combined.

Suddenly something puzzled the short boy "Wait, your dad gave it to him?" Jack asked.

"Hiccups family are the most well-known dragon hunters" Maria responded before Hiccup could "Didn't you know that Jack?"

"Did you forget I'm not exactly from around here?" Jack gave her a stiff grin.

"Right! Sorry"

Jack shrugged it off and looked to Hiccup whom felt slightly embarrassed by now "But man that's wicked cool! You gotta' show me the big ones some day!"

"It's cracking!" Merida exclaimed the exact moment the dragon inside pecked a crack on its shell.

The cracking continued. Here and there the egg would budge until a piece of the shell came off. A tiny claw forced it's way out, then another, then the head and at last the entire egg had broken apart. The dragon was the size of a tiny puppy, yawning and covered with a thin layer of slime. Gobber was staring at it, as if it was the fluffiest kitten on earth. "Look at it! Look how sweet it is!" he sighed.

"Didn't you loose your hand and leg because of a dragon?" Hiccup cocked a brow at Gobber and gestured to his wooden hand.

"Yes well, the smaller ones are different. They are like puppies. But when they grow up, then they'll turn into foul killer machines. You gotta' enjoy them while ya' can!" Gobber nodded.

Maria aw'ed "well it does look kinda cute" she leaned in a bit close. When it finally opened its eyes, they appeared too big for its head. It stared at Maria for a bit until it burped a fireball out above her head. "Not cute! Not cute!" She yelped and barely dodged it.

Jack was of little support as he laughed at her, "That's how dragons are supposed to be, Maria! Even if it's tiny, it's still a killer machine"

"How big will it get?" Merida tried to poke it but quickly withdrew her hand when Hiccup slapped it.  
"About the size of a large dog. It's the only reason why Stoick let me take care of it until it's big enough to be sent back to him. He'd never let me handle the big ones on school grounds!" Gobber laughed and leaned back, watching as the dragon gathered its eggshells into a nest on the pillow.

Merida had her head resting on the table, eyes fixated on the dragon. The little creature didn't look like much of a killer machine right now, but no babies ever looked like killers until they grew up. It yawned, and so did Merida right after, followed by Gobbers laughter. "Time for bed yeh?" he said and got up from his chair. "It's probably best. It's already much too late for you four to be out"

They nodded reluctantly, "But what about the professors? They must've heard the dog bark" Jack noted as he got up.

"I'll cover for you. They'll most likely go to me first since the pup is my problem" Gobber smiled with his uneven set of teeth, "Now go on!" he pushed the kids gently on their backs.

They gave him their thanks and specifically Merida and Jack had a hard time leaving, as they wanted to keep staring at the dragon. Eventually they trotted back to their houses, waving at Gobber right until he closed the door to his house.

"You really need to tell me more about dragons, Hiccup!" Jack jumped twice out of excitement, just high enough to reach the top of Hiccup's head.

Hiccup shrugged "There really isn't much to tell. If you read one of my dad's journals it's all; _"will kill you in one way or another."_ Dragons only differ by the way they kill"

"Cool!" the short kid gleamed.

It wasn't entirely true though. Sure they differed by the way they killed, but they also varied in size, type of scales, patterns, colors, natural habitats, food, personalities and more. Dragons were complicated and highly intelligent creatures (depending on the dragon), and Hiccup knew basically all about dragons and more than any wizard could possibly know, having grown up in a family that talked about nothing but the foul creatures, it was expected of him.

The kids went to bed without trouble from any professors, and through the entire night, all four prayed that they wouldn't wake up with a grown-up hovering over their bed.

. . .

It had been as Gobber had said. The professors had indeed heard the bark, but they went to Gobber first to hear what the trouble was. He said that sometimes the poor 'pup' woke up and called for him, only because it was lonely, and Gobber had gone up to calm it down right away. They accepted this, leaving the four friends out of trouble.

The next few days were filled with questions for the kids, but other than that, they were quite uneventful. The four tried to figure out just what "treasure" Fluffy was guarding and considered to go check it out, but none of them knew how to play music and electronics weren't allowed at Hogwarts. Besides – none of them wanted to meet that dog again unless necessary.

Something eventful did happen a few days later though. It was the 21st of December when the four had been allowed to follow Gobber into the forbidden forest, at night. Or, well… They hadn't exactly been allowed to go there, they were forced to. It was their punishment for sneaking around Fluffy a week ago. The professors finally found out the truth, as the paintings around the hall couldn't keep their mouths shut anymore, specifically a certain miss who was famous for spreading gossip from one painting to the other.

Normally, 1st year students weren't allowed to go into the forest, but Gobber had to be punished as well for covering up for the kids, so when Gobber had to go on his weekly routine through the forest, he had to drag the four with him.

He was probably more anxious than the kids. He knew about the dangers lurking in there, so he ordered the four to stay as close as possible. Under his jacket, he kept the tiny dragon, just in case. The dragon was, by the way, named Norbert.

"This is probably the worst time to be giving out punishments" Gobber mumbled to himself.

"Why? The forest is so beautiful," Maria said with a smile. She hated punishments and detentions and honored being a perfect student, but still she kept her spirits up. Her mom and dad had already been notified about the late-night-sneaking-about, but luckily they hadn't spent too long on scolding her as they thought of it as a normal curious phase for an eleven year old.

As she looked around, she couldn't help but smile. The ground was covered with snow. There were no leaves on the dark trees and they looked rather naked, but the branches had tufts of snow resting upon them, giving them a certain magical aura. Everything glittered by the moonlight, and even if they only had the stars to go by and Gobbers lantern, it was still enough light to see ahead.

"Because" Gobber frowned "Lately, the forest hasn't been the same" he took a left and made sure all four were still close to him. There was no use in hiding the truth when they were all already pushed into the mess together. "Centaurs are moving south, trees are rotting up from the inside, the light of the unicorns are fading… everything seems depressed and scared. Some of the creatures of the forest has even told me about black shadows moving across the ground, killing everything they touch" Gobber didn't try to hide anything, and it frankly left the kids alarmed at every breeze or movement from the forest.

"...You're not exactly making this a picnic Gobber" Jack forced out a grin.

"I didn't intend to," Gobber frowned and turned left again. They were walking in a very large circle. Usually Gobber would be more thorough, but right now he just wanted the kids home safe. Not to mention that one of them was the son of his best friend; he couldn't let anything happen to them.

"Man, I don't feel too good about this..." Hiccup mumbled to himself, but close enough for Jack to hear. Jack had to admit that his goose bumps had goose bumps, and even Merida had been silenced by her friend's anxiousness. Being afraid was highly contagious.

Maybe it was the fear that had started to spread between them and they were starting to imagine things, or maybe Jack did in fact feel something run over his feet. The boy yelped and jumped up and away from the group, he lost his footing and glided down a few meters into a bush. "Jack!" Gobber called out "Bloody forest is uneven as my mothers buttocks!" he hissed.

Hiccup rushed after Jack before Gobber could stop him "I'll get him!" he glided down to the lower part of the forest, hearing Gobber remind him 'Be careful!' Hiccup could barely make out Jack struggling in the bush as everything was covered with darkness, but he could definitely hear him curse the poor bush over and over.

"I'm getting you out of there" Hiccup chuckled and pushed some branches away. "Ha ha, yeah laugh all you want freckle face!" Jack grumbled.

"You have freckles too you know"

"Be quiet!" the shorter boy grunted as he pushed himself out of the bush. "Everything itches!" he complained and started scratching every part of his body through the uniform.

"That's because you landed in nettles!" Hiccup laughed and scratched his own hands.

"Not fun!" Jack scratched his cheeks. A breeze blew by him, but it didn't feel like a normal breeze. It spoke to him, but he couldn't hear what it said. The boy got quiet and looked straight ahead in an attempt to find out where the sound was coming from. He still scratched his cheeks as he looked at Hiccup, finding the same mystified expression on his friend. "You heard that?"  
"Yeah." Hiccup nodded.

"Let's go back"

"Mhm"

Neither of the boys wanted to know if they were imagining things or if what they heard was actually real, and so they ran up the edge back to their friends, only – they couldn't.

They only managed to run a few meters and _something_ made them fall head first down unto the ground. Scrambling up on their feet they practically crawled until they were pushed to the side and forced up against the edge. It was a force they couldn't describe, and neither could they see it, but it hurt.

As they looked straight ahead, wheezing and panting for air their hearts up in their throats, they saw a moving shadow on the ground. It lifted itself up from the ground and grinned.

"GOBBER!" both kids screamed for help and not seconds later, a ball of flame was thrown over their heads and down before them. The little dragon rested in Gobber's hand where it had received a nice press on the stomach and burped out another fireball.

Maria picked out her wand and cast a spell "Lumos!" and a beam of light from her wand chased the shadow away. It was the most logical choice for her to fight darkness with light.

Gobber jumped down, the dragon now sitting on his head, and grabbed both Jack and hiccup around the middle in one arm and pulled them up. "Screw the punishment! We're going home!" he shouted and got up again. He took Maria's hand, Maria took Merida's, and they all ran back to Gobber's house.

. . .

They were quickly out of the forest. The smoke from Gobber's chimney filled the air with the smell of pork and cookies, a weird but comforting combination.

Jack and Hiccup had barely been placed in their seats before Gobber threw several blankets around them and picked up Merida and Maria like ragdolls and put them next to the boys. "Huddle up!" Gobber urged them "Huddling is the best medicine" he smiled, a little strained, and locked all seven locks on his door.

"What was that!" Hiccup questioned, followed by Jack "And what took you so long! You were right next to us!"

"Something held us back" Maria looked apologizing at Jack, "Yeah, you weren't the only ones in trouble!" Merida grumbled.

"I don't know what it was" Gobber finally sat down and looked at the kids, "But I bet it was those shadows that the forest creatures has spoken of"

Hiccup frowned and pulled the blanket around him closer "One of them rose up to look at us"

Gobber nodded. "Don't think about it. The grown-ups will take care of it. This is not something for four kids to get mixed up with"

"But what if it that thing will go for the other kids on school!" Maria burst out. "Then it's not a 1st year student problem, it's every bodies problem!"

The man blinked and nodded, twirling one of his beard braids on a finger "You're all very smart and brave, no doubt about it" he smiled "but the professors will stop it before it reaches the school. It might just be some wacky wizard that let a spell go nuts and now it needs to get under control"

He did his best to calm the kids, but honestly he had no idea what that shadows was. It had felt a lot stronger than any 'wacky spell', but the kids didn't need to know that.

Jack bit his lip and then looked at Gobber "What if it's after the treasure Fluffy guards?"

Gobber looked rather stunned at Jack and chuckled "I would be very surprised if that was the case! I don't think any weird shadow would find use in that stone!"

"So the treasure is a stone?" Jack smiled and leaned forward.

There was a moment of silence."…Clever you" Gobber pointed a finger at Jack with narrowed eyes. "Tricked by a kid. Well, why not!"

Jack smiled widely; even his friends were slowly joining with grins despite the recent attack.

"You kids are far too smart for your own good," Gobber sighed, "It's the Sorceress Stone. You should know a bit about it from your school lessons, if you've paid attention that is" he chuckled.

"The Sorceress Stone?" Merida repeated with a grimace "Isn't that a fairy tale?" She certainly hadn't been paying attention.

"For some yes!" Maria replied "But it's actually very true. All legends and myths have origin in some truth"

"You sound like my mother now…" The redhead grimaced.

Gobber laughed. He then leaned in and shushed the kids "But remember. It's a secret. I'll be dead if anyone finds out I've told you about it. Or worse; I'll loose my job!" The dragon on his head perked its head for a second, almost alarmed by the worrisome news, until it fell asleep again.

All four kids nodded in sync. They curiosity had been stilled for now.

Gobber let the four stay over night; they all slept in one big pile on the couch, while Gobber slept in his bedroom. His snoring was louder than the creaking of the trees, but all kids were exhausted and fell into deep sleep without trouble, completely undisturbed by any sounds.


End file.
